


Memories

by heavy_cream



Series: The Unraveling of Spring [6]
Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Established Relationship, Feelings, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Schmoop, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, and talking about them like an adult, barnaby has issues, but he is working on them, mentions of past relationship, reference to canon character death, two men being dumb and cute, two remarkably adult men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:49:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23678671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavy_cream/pseuds/heavy_cream
Summary: “At first it bothered me,” Bunny started and swallowed before he continued. “The notion of Tomoe bothered me and Kaede bothered me. She was a reminder of what you had and had lost. I would get so jealous because, for me, you are the first who has made me feel the way I feel. You are the first in many things for me, and for many more things, you are the only one. And I treasure that but…” he lifted Kotetsu’s hand and brushed a finger over the wedding band. “I’m not your first at all.”
Relationships: Barnaby "Bunny" Brooks Jr./Kaburagi T. Kotetsu
Series: The Unraveling of Spring [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691416
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woefully unbetaed. Have some feelings.

Kaede blinked and looked at both men sitting in front of her over the rim of her cup. 

“You are moving in together?”

“If Bunny ever decides on an apartment, yes,” Kotetsu said, trying to seem lighthearted about it, but feeling just as apprehensive as his partner was. They had started looking at new places as soon as Bunny had recovered from his head injury. Now that they had narrowed down their options to three possible apartments, they had decided it was time to tell Kaede. They had both reassured each other that it would be fine but the truth was that teenagers were unpredictable and dating and living together were not at all the same thing. 

Kotetsu felt a drop of sweat run down his back and grabbed Barnaby's hand under the table. The fact that Bunny's hand felt just as clammy as his was oddly reassuring.

Kaede looked at them for a while before sitting back with a weary sigh. “Well, finally!” She said rolling her eyes. Seriously, both of them were so slow sometimes. Men, heroes or not, were all hopeless. She completely missed Kotetsu’s and Barnaby’s relieved sighs. 

“So you’re ah- okay with this?” Kotetsu asked, his hand clenching down on Bunny's.

“I actually thought you were already living together,” she said easily and Kotetsu and Barnaby shared a look. Apparently their nervousness regarding the news had been completely pointless. “Why are you looking for an apartment though?”

“Well, we need more space, with more room to not get on each other’s nerves,” Bunny said giving Kotetsu a look that clearly said he was the cause of annoyance.

“Oh, yeah I can see that,” she agreed, staring back at her father.

“Shouldn’t we get to that shopping then?” He stood up enthusiastically. No point in ruining a conversation that had gone exceptionally well. He missed the amused look his daughter shared with his partner before they too got up. They spent a few hours shopping around until mid-afternoon when Bunny had to leave for an interview and Kaede and Kotetsu went back to his apartment.

"Ahh, home at last," Kotetsu groaned as he stepped into the living room, happy to finally put down the bags he’d been carting around. Spring had finally come around and the weather had been lovely all day, but nothing was more exhausting than going on a shopping trip with both Kaede AND Bunny. Kaede rolled her eyes and was about to make an old-man-joke when her eyes fell on the stack of boxes just off the living room.

“You are already packing?” She asked curiously, moving towards the boxes and it took Kotetsu a moment to understand what she was talking about.

“Ah, no, not yet. I was looking for the deed of this apartment, since I’ll be selling it now, and you know how hopeless I am when it comes to things like these.”

“You lost it, didn’t you?” She asked balefully and Kotetsu sulked.

“It’s not lost. I just haven’t found it yet. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.”

Kaede opened a box and came face to face with Christmas ornaments, after rummaging around she also found unused kitchenware, and a bit more looking brought her books. When she tried another box she was greeted with the same sort of mess. Old school notebooks, a sweater, magazines, toy figurines. 

“Dad, this is a mess! No wonder you never find anything!”

“Well it’s all stuff I don’t use,” he explained but even he had to admit it was chaotic. And he really did have to find the papers for the apartment, especially if they decided to buy an apartment which was what Bunny had been thinking of doing. Barnaby was rolling in money, he could easily afford buying a place, but Kotetsu wasn't that well off. He had a robust saving's account for Kaede, and enough to go by as a rule, but if he wanted to buy a new place, he'd have to sell this one. He turned around when he heard a noise of things falling to the ground.

“What are you doing?” He asked, noticing Kaede had promptly dumped everything out on the floor.

“What does it look like? I’ll help you organize all of this.” 

“Kaede, it’s your holiday! You shouldn’t be doing work.”

“I won’t rest if I know this mess exists. Besides, you need to find those papers or Barnaby might think you don’t want to actually live together.”

Kotetsu stared at her. Resigned to the fact he couldn’t quite rest his old bones yet, he shrugged out of his vest and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. “What can I do then?”

“Are these all the things you have stored?”

“There a few more boxes around.”

“Well get all of them here. We are not doing this twice,” she ordered and Kotetsu obeyed trying to remember where he had everything stored. By the time he was done, the entire living room was invaded with boxes and bags, all half opened and strewn around.

“This is going to take longer than I thought,” Kaede said surprised at the sheer amount of stuff her Dad had. Why did he have all of that anyway?! Kotetsu interrupted his chore briefly to answer his phone when it rang.

“Bunny! Are you all done then?” 

Kaede watched as her father smiled softly and wondered if she had ever seen that look on him before. The truth is that her father had changed. She couldn't really pinpoint what exactly was different, but she caught glimpses of it, in his smiles, in the way he looked at Barnaby, in the way he would hum while cooking. She thought that perhaps the difference was that he was just happier.

“We are home, yes, we are organizing my stuff,” Kotetsu continued, sliding up his free hand to toy with the pin on his jacket in a gesture that was completely absentminded. “I didn’t make her work! She made me do it!” He sputtered and hunched over and Kaede couldn’t help to think that her father was ridiculous. 

“I was thinking about ordering pizza,” he continued and made another face that Kaede interpreted as chastised. He turned to her. “He says I should ask you if you are okay with Pizza, otherwise he could bring something.”

“Pizza is okay,” she said and then had an idea. “Can I have the phone?”

Kotetsu blinked surprised. “Uh sure, Bunny, Kaede wants to speak with you.”

“Barnaby, hi, ouhm, can I ask for a favor? Ah, if it’s not too out of the way, you think you could maybe drop by a store and get some large plastic containers, the ones you use for storage? Dad has everything in these cardboard boxes and they are basically falling apart at this point, and I thought since you are going to move in together…” she trailed off and Kotetsu felt himself go soft inside when he saw his daughter flush pleased. 

“Thanks so much! Bye bye,” she said and hung up.

“He hung up?” Kotetsu asked accepting the phone.

“Yes.”

“Without saying goodbye,” Kotetsu said with a pout and stared at the phone in his hand before pocketing it. 

“He’ll be right here anyway,” Kaede said in a chastising tone and went back to work. 

They picked their way through bags and boxes and Kaede thought it was better to just sort everything out in piles before boxing them away. They had made their way halfway through them when Kaede opened one of the larger boxes and was suddenly shocked still.

“What is it?” Kotetsu asked and watched as Kaede lifted out a white, sparkly garment.

“Is this- Mom’s-“ Kaede stammered her voice thick and Kotetsu smiled, going towards her. “It’s her wedding dress, isn’t it?”

Kotetsu knelt on the floor and brushed the fabric with a finger. “Yes.”

“I had only seen it in pictures,” she said quietly trailing her fingers over the delicate pattern. “I didn’t know you had it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You sold the house where we used to live,” Kaede said not remembering the place at all, but knowing that her father had moved out and into the apartment he had now.

Kotetsu looked at her confused, not knowing what one thing had to do with the other. “So?”

“I thought you didn’t want to remember her,” she added quietly and was suddenly enveloped in her father’s arms.

“Kaede,” he sighed and pressed her even closer, rubbing a cheek over her hair. “That’s not it at all. I will never forget Tomoe.”

“Then why did you sell the house?”

Kotetsu sat back and looked at his daughter. She was older now, but in his eyes, she was still the little girl that had cried the most heart-wrenching tears when she’d said goodbye to him as he left to keep the promise he’d made to his wife. But maybe now... maybe now they could talk about it.

“If I stayed in that house I would never have been able to keep the promise I made to her, Kaede. Every time I returned to that place, I kept expecting to see you and Tomoe there. I kept expecting to have the life I didn’t have anymore. If I stayed there, I would have broken my promise to her. It was never about forgetting, it was about learning to live this different life. That’s why I have her favorite pictures too,” he continued, looking over to the various frames, “that way I could look at them and think of her and you.”

Kaede was silent for a moment. In all those years they had never talked about this. “Do you miss her?”

“Every day.”

“Even now?”

Kotetsu frowned. “Why would that change?”

“Well… because… Barnaby…” she awkwardly trailed off, suddenly wishing she hadn’t brought it up at all, but Kotetsu petted her hair like he used to do when she was younger.

“That doesn’t mean that I’ll stop missing her. Everything I have, you, my life, even Bunny, I have because of her,” he said and Kotetsu gently, carefully, folded the dress again. “I guess that’s why I never could throw anything away either. I don't even need to look at them, just knowing they are there... that's enough to help me remember.”

“What do you mean?” Kaede frowned.

“Well, the memories aren't the things themselves. The memories are here,” Kotetsu explained tapping his head, “things just help us to remember faster.”

Kaede nodded, gently running a hand over the dress. Maybe her Dad being such a pack-rat wasn’t that bad after all. Kotetsu kept rummaging around the box and then let out a sort of squeal Kaede had never heard any man make.

“What?” She asked surprised.

“Look at this,” he said excitedly and took out a tiny yellow jumpsuit with a hoody that resembled a duckling’s head. “I remember when you used to wear this!”

“Dad!” Kaede said slightly embarrassed and just then the door opened and Bunny stepped in.

“Hello, I'm-“

“Bunny!” Kotetsu interrupted jumping up from the floor and bouncing towards him, the cute yellow garment still in his hands. “Look!”

“What?”

“This was Kaede’s favorite outfit, she looked so cute in it, like a little duck.”

Bunny looked at the jumpsuit and had to admit it was rather cute, but then he glanced at Kaede who was blushing furiously, with indignant, teenage, embarrassment. “It is cute, but you should stop embarrassing your daughter, old man.”

“I’m not embarrassing her!”

“As I was saying,” Bunny continued giving Kotetsu a stern look, “I brought the containers but maybe they won’t be enough. Why do you have so much stuff?”

“Visual aids,” Kotetsu said with a grin and waggled his eyebrows and Bunny simply frowned.

“Huh?”

“Don’t listen to him,” Kaede said and hastily closed the box with the wedding dress. “Let’s see what we can do with what we have. Dad, weren’t you going to order pizza?” She asked sternly even as she took Bunny’s hand and tugged him to the other side of the room. He watched for a moment as his daughter and his partner bent over the task of organizing his life. With a smile, he turned away to speed-dial the pizza-place.

***

Kotetsu groaned as he climbed down the stairs, his hair still damp from the shower, wearing a soft t-shirt and sweatpants. They had more or less finished with most of the cleaning up, though Barnaby had been right, they needed more containers.

“That shower helped but I think I needed a bath after all this,” Kotetsu complained and then stopped when he noticed Bunny kneeling in front of the box with the wedding gown, a picture in one hand, a glass of wine in the other. 

Kotetsu debated for a moment what to say and deciding he wasn’t good with words at the best of times decided to simply sit down next to him.

“Kaede told me what was in it, I think she did so that I would open it,” Bunny said without looking up. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“You aren’t,” Kotetsu simply said and wished he could touch him, reassure him somehow, but had the sense that Barnaby was working through something on his own. So he just sat there, looking at his profile.

“She is beautiful,” Bunny said at last. “Kaede favors her,” he continued and handed Kotetsu the picture. It was an older one, from before they were married, a careless snapshot of them in a park, complete with balloons and ice cream.

“She does. Also her personality is much like hers,” he said and smiled. Bunny watched him for a moment, wondering if Kotetsu would say anything else, but his partner just looked at the picture, the softest of smiles curving his lips.

“You don’t talk about her,” Barnaby finally said, moving to set his glass on the floor next to him.

“Ah, I guess I don’t.”

“Is it-“

“Yes?”

“Is it because… of… me?” Bunny asked turning around to face Kotetsu, his gaze steady and serious.

“No, Bunny, or at least, not exactly. I-” Kotetsu started and broke off. He had known, hadn’t he? That at some point they’d have to have this conversation. Kotetsu looked back at the photo.

“After Tomoe passed away, I spent a long time wondering what I should do. She made me promise that I would keep being a Hero, but how could I both take care of our little girl and be a hero at the same time?” Kotetsu carefully set the picture on the floor in front of him, remembering that time all too well. The agony of finding out how to live after everything had been snatched out of his hands. “It didn’t take long for me to figure out I couldn’t do both. I had to choose. I could be Kaede’s father or I could keep the promise I made to her.”

Barnaby watched as Kotetsu seemed to go back to that time in his life and felt his own heart clench. How could anyone move on from something like that? How could anyone choose? Because as hard as it had been for Kaede to grow up without her father, it had been even harder for Kotetsu to leave her in the first place.

“How did you decide?”

Kotetsu seemed to rouse himself and smiled. “Tomoe was really, really smart. I figured, she would never have told me to continue being a Hero if she didn’t know exactly what she was doing. She believed that things would work out, I had to believe that too.”

“Such faith, where does that come from?” Bunny asked suddenly and Kotetsu smiled and leaned forward.

“From here, Bunny,” he said softly and placed a hand on over Barnaby's heart. “I’m surprised you ask.”

“Why?”

“Because you have it too, don’t you, in me?”

Bunny swallowed hard several times, before placing a hand on top of Kotetsu’s. “I must have,” he said roughly and Kotetsu tipped his head to a side to place a soft kiss on his lips.

“I couldn’t stay in our house, back then. So I moved to this place and left Kaede with my Mom. I left her crying,” he said almost to himself and his usual cheer for a moment was tinted with regret. “A father should never make his daughter cry. I think I will never forgive myself for that.”

This time Bunny pulled him close to comfort him, to erase those shadows of doubts. “She’s stronger than you give her credit for and I think, maybe Tomoe knew that too.”

Kotetsu smiled, let himself be embraced and with a breath released the regret. “Ah well, it’s not like I can go back and change that anyway. I suppose that that’s part of why I don’t really talk about this either.” 

Barnaby nodded and after a moment let him go so he could look at him directly. 

“At first it bothered me,” Bunny started and swallowed before he continued. “The notion of Tomoe bothered me and Kaede bothered me. She was a reminder of what you had and had lost. I would get so jealous because, for me, you are the first who has made me feel the way I feel. You are the first in many things for me, and for many more things, you are the only one. And I treasure that but…” he lifted Kotetsu’s hand and brushed a finger over the wedding band. “I’m not your first.”

“Bunny,” Kotetsu started but Bunny moved back and shook his head. There were things that needed to be said. If he wanted to have at least the slightest chance of making this work, they had to have this out in the open. He got to his feet, feeling suddenly jittery with energy and started to pace. 

“That was what bothered me whenever I thought about this. I can’t be for you what you are for me, because our circumstances are different. Instead, I pretended your life started when we met, and that way I didn’t have to deal with this, because this way, I’d be the only one for you too, and I could be to you what you are to me.”

Bunny ran a hand over his hair, in a nervous attempt to organize his thoughts. “But then things happened. You pushed me into Kaede’s life, made me be a part of her, the part I was so hard pretending didn’t exist. But I realized that by doing so, I was also becoming part of you. And now, with all those boxes, all filled with memories, I realized I can’t do that. I can’t pretend you don’t have a life before you met me. I can’t pretend to not see the ring on your finger, the pictures on the tables, and that even after all these years, that even after me… you still love her,” Bunny finished and held his breath.

Kotetsu was silent for a moment, looking at the ring on his finger, the weight of which he didn’t feel anymore, hadn’t felt for quite a while. “You are right," he said and stood up. "I love her, even now, and I know I always will. But perhaps not quite in the way you think I do.” 

He lifted his hand. “This ring, it represents a promise. Not the one I made to her on our wedding day, but on the day she passed away. She made me promise,” he remembered and smiled softly, “because she knew I wouldn’t break my word to her. She made sure I promised that I wouldn’t stop being a Hero, that I wouldn’t stop doing what I did, that I wouldn’t stop living my life, no matter what happened. And she did that for me.”

He lifted his face to look at Bunny, the golden eyes full of emotion. “She wanted me to live and be happy, and do what I do best, even after she was gone. She always pushed me to achieve my dreams and I am who I am now because of her, because of those years we had together.” 

He stepped closer to stand in front of Barnaby. “You see, Bunny, if it hadn’t been for that promise, I wouldn’t have continued being a hero. If it hadn’t been for that promise, I would have left Sternbild, moved back with Kaede, and taken over the family store.” He placed his hands on Bunny’s arms. “If it hadn’t been for that promise, I wouldn’t have met you, you see?” Kotetsu asked and Bunny felt his throat grow tight and his eyes get teary.

“So yes, even after all these years I still love her, because I owe her. I owe her for giving me you, and this ring I wear is a reminder that I owe her for everything I have, especially you. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Bunny replied with a teary, choked up voice.

“Bunny…” Kotetsu said and embraced him, rubbing his cheek against his hair when Bunny buried his face in his neck.

“I feel what I feel for you, because you are who you are,” Bunny said, voice muffled slightly. “And you are who you are because of everything you went through, especially those parts I was pretending didn’t exist because I was so petty. But even if sometimes I get a bit jealous, I figure it’s ok, because every step we took in our lives led us to where we are now.”

Kotetsu smiled and pressed him even closer, buried his face in Bunny's hair. His poor old heart, he wasn't made for this.

“There is one thing you are wrong about though,” Kotetsu said after a moment.

“What?” Barnaby asked letting himself be pushed away slightly.

“That you aren’t to me what I am to you.”

Bunny blinked surprised and Kotetsu rubbed his thumbs over his flushed cheeks. 

“You are not my first love ever, that much is true. But what I feel for you, I have never felt before. I’m not the man I was when I met Tomoe, when I married her. Our life together changed me, her loss changed me,” Kotetsu smiled. “And my life with you changed me too. I suppose you were halfway right before, this life I’m living now, here, with you, it did start when I met you.”

“Kotetsu,” Bunny said dangerously close to a sob and Kotetsu kissed him.

“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel you were anything less than everything for me, Bunny, and I want to know what I could do to change that.”

Bunny sighed and for the first time, he felt at peace with everything. “Talk about her,” he simply said and his smile widened at Kotetsu's confused face. 

“What?”

“Talk about her, don’t put her away in boxes,” Bunny reached up to idly touch the pin he carried. “I owe her everything too, after all, the least I could do is honor her place in your life.”

Kotetsu kissed him again and rested his forehead against Bunny’s. “You never cease to amaze me, you know that Bunny?” 

Barnaby smiled and felt as if the distance between them had been closed a bit more, as if they had taken another step towards each other. He didn’t know where they were going, but they were going together and that was enough.

Bunny slid his hand into Kotetsu’s, placed the other one on his shoulder, and surely enough Kotetsu picked up the hint. Gently, softly, Kotetsu swayed side to side, dancing with him amongst the memories.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before, Barnaby had never been quite able to picture a future, any future, much less one where he had somebody who loved him and he loved back.
> 
> \---
> 
> Barnaby is introspective in the mornings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hi. I lied. 
> 
> There will be one more chapter after this, published on Monday.

It was rare for Barnaby to wake up before Kotetsu. He wondered for a moment what might have woken him and determined that it was the cold seeping up his back. He rolled slightly closer to Kotetsu, both to get more of the covers and also to steal some of his body warmth. Kotetsu automatically pulled him closer, rearranging their bodies so that they nestled comfortably against each other.

Barnaby smiled. Moments like these were his private little miracles. He placed his hands on Kotetsu’s chest, a gesture he had done countless times before, and yet he never tired of seeing his pale skin against the tanner one. Perhaps it was that very baffling difference between them that made him wonder day after day, how they could actually work as a couple.

He thought back to last night, how they had danced in that living room, among the remnants of the past and the hope of a future. That was really it, wasn’t it? What they had done the night before had been the silent, earth-shattering promise of a future together.

But it hadn’t been monumental. They hadn’t done anything in particular after that. They had danced, talked about nonsense, and then crawled into bed. A routine they had done countless times before. There had been no speeches of undying love, no declaration of impossible promises. All in all, it had just been one more day in their lives. But wasn't that, what a relationship was about in the end? Day after day of building comfort through shared routines. It wasn't about the grand gestures, the monumental events. They've had their fair share of those and they would continue to have them no doubt. Yet love was something that you build in between those grand moments, in the day-to-day. 

Before, Barnaby had never been quite able to picture a future, any future, much less one where he had somebody who loved him and he loved back. And now he was looking forward to sharing an apartment with Kotetsu, moving in together, finding a new routine, a new rhythm. He looked forward to the days were youth would leave them, couldn't wait to see Kotetsu's hair go gray and his body grow soft. Could wait to see the laugh-lines deepen and know that he was the cause of those wrinkles. Couldn't wait to fill endless books with photographs and memories, of Christmas and birthdays and New Years celebrations.

He didn’t know what would happen, had no certainty that they would work out. He had never been in anything remotely close to what he had with Kotetsu. There was no guarantee, no backup plan, no safety net. And yet this uncertain future made him feel more alive than any other mission ever had. 

He pressed closer then, suddenly needing to connect with Kotetsu, and trailed a hand over his chest to rouse him gently. Kotetsu nuzzled him sleepily and woke slowly, blinking the sleep away, and when his eyes focused on Bunny, his mouth curved into a soft smile.

“Kotetsu,” Bunny started and broke off, suddenly not knowing how to encompass the enormity of his emotions in words, realizing that perhaps there were no words to accurately express what he was feeling. And so he just stared at Kotetsu, who looked back at him, soft and gentle and warm, and reaching out he pressed the palm of his hand against Bunny’s cheek and said:

“Hi.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotetsu felt something completely different stir within him as he watched Bunny slide up one sock first and then the other one. They were white, with twin blue stripes running along the edge at the top. They stopped a bit under his knee and those legs which were shapely already seemed even more sinuous than before covered in the thick white cotton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's end this series with a BANG!
> 
> EDIT: I UPLOADED THIS WRONG TWICE OMG!! The WHOLE chapter is now up for real orz.

“I brought breakfast,” Kotetsu announced, doing a little dance as he entered Barnaby’s apartment, and was greeted with the peculiar sight of boxes in the living room.

“Leave it in the kitchen,” came Bunny’s reply from the bedroom.

“What’s with the boxes?” Kotetsu asked as he unpacked the bagels and coffee he’d gotten from the corner store.

“It’s all my stuff,” Bunny answered walking from the corridor, clearly just woken up, with his hair still tousled, wearing a t-shirt and boxers only.

“Your stuff?” Kotetsu asked looking around curiously. 

“Yeah. After we sorted out your stuff last weekend I remembered that I actually had a lot of things sent to me after Aunt Samantha…” he trailed off and simply knelt on the floor.

“Oh, you didn’t tell me about that,” Kotetsu replied smoothly, ignoring completely Bunny’s inability to talk about the event. Even now, years after, he knew the memories still hurt.

“At the time, between that and Maverick and you leaving… I just didn’t want to deal with it. I had it sent away to storage and had forgotten about it until last week. I thought that maybe now it was time to do something about these things, so I had them delivered.”

“Ah, I see. What’s in them?” Kotetsu asked handing Bunny the fresh bagel he’d gotten for him and the coffee.

“Thanks. I have no idea, to be honest,” Bunny said, bit into the bagel, and simply looked at the sealed boxes for a moment and chewed slowly until making up his mind and finally peeling off the tape. When he opened the lid, he simply stared.

“Oh.”

“’Oh’ what?” Kotetsu asked leaning over to peer inside and Bunny took out an old notebook.

“Things from school,” Bunny said surprised and now more at ease, searched through the box.

“School?” Kotetsu went down to his haunches and idly looked through the books, notebooks, and folders that Barnaby pulled out.

“Yeah,” he checked to see if there was some sort of label on the box before he kept perusing the contents. “I think this is just school stuff,” Barnaby said and switched to another box. It was the same as the other one but this one included things from Hero academy. A third box he discovered were old toys, like action figures, puzzles, coloring books. A fourth box contained clothes. Old uniforms, jackets, t-shirts and ties, sweaters, winter uniform, summer uniform. 

“She even kept these things?” Bunny wondered aloud and Kotetsu looked, relieved to see him smiling.

“Oh wow,” Barnaby said and dug deep into one of the boxes.

“What?”

Bunny pulled out a shirt and lifted it up. “My old soccer shirt.”

“Soccer shirt?”

“Yeah, I had forgotten about this. I was on the soccer-team in high-school, the only team I ever joined. I didn’t know she had these.”

Kotetsu, who was also looking through the box now, pulled out a pair of shorts. “Looks like your entire uniform is- what are you doing?”

Bunny had taken off his t-shirt and was in the process of pulling on his old soccer jersey. “I want to see if it fits.”

Kotetsu watched trying hard to contain his laughter as Bunny struggled into the old shirt. “Stop it, you are going to hurt yourself,” he chided grinning but Bunny succeeded.

“Told you it would fit,” he said and Kotetsu laughed. It did fit, like a second skin. It stretched tight around the shoulders and chest, and looked incredibly uncomfortable. 

“The shorts and socks are here too.”

“The socks?” 

Kotetsu tossed them over and Bunny unrolled them. 

“Oh god, why did she keep all of this?” Bunny wondered smiling.

“Maybe because she knew it would make you laugh?”

Bunny’s smile grew soft. “Maybe,” he replied and ran his fingers over the socks, and following his earlier impulse proceeded to put them on. Kotetsu watched and felt something completely different stir within him as he watched Bunny slide up one sock first and then the other one. They were white, with twin blue stripes running along the edge at the top. They stopped a bit under his knee and those legs which were shapely already seemed even more sinuous than before covered in the thick white cotton.

“I never thought I would wear these again. I’m surprised they fit,” Barnaby wondered aloud and wiggled his toes for a bit. He was about to ask Kotetsu what he thought about them when his phone rang. He got up and walked the short distance towards the living room table to answer it. 

Kotetsu watched as if somehow he had slipped out of reality, and all there was, was Bunny’s long slender form, his slim waist, the shapely legs. All of it moving with elegance and poise and before he even knew what he was doing he was standing behind him, his hands running down the sides.

Distantly Kotetsu heard Bunny slightly catch his breath and stammer for just a moment but he couldn’t bring himself to really care. He sucked on Bunny’s neck, hard enough to leave a bruise and ran his fingers along the edge of Bunny’s boxers, slipping inside them. He lifted his head to tug on an earlobe just as his hand curled around Bunny’s increasingly interested erection. 

“Hang up,” he whispered but Bunny was ahead of him, tossing the phone on the table with little finesse and turning around to be able to touch Kotetsu as well. 

“Kotetsu,” he moaned out when the Kotetsu bit his neck again and his hands took hold of his bottom to squeeze the flesh.

“Bunny,” he growled and pushed the Barnaby until he got the hint to wrap his legs around Kotetsu and clamped himself around him with every limb. Kotetsu grunted pleased and between sloppy kisses carried him into the bedroom, tumbling him onto the bed with little ceremony, and immediately diving down to kiss him. Bunny was running his hands over Kotetsu, annoyed at all the clothes he found and fumbled at the buttons of vest and shirt while Kotetsu tugged on his own tie.

“Enough,” Kotetsu panted when Bunny tried to push the open clothes away, and instead he obediently lifted his hips for Kotetsu to drag off his boxers and tossing them on the floor. Bunny made an attempt to take off the shirt but it was impossible. The tight cloth now clung to his damp skin and Kotetsu was already pushing two slicked fingers into him and fuck it, clothes could fucking damn well wait. It was all rushed and frantic and Bunny had halfways lost his mind anyway. He came back to reality slightly dazed when Kotetsu knelt on the bed, pants still mostly on, but cock already lubed and pressing into him.

Kotetsu placed his hands under Bunny’s knees and pushed them back, partially to spread him wider, but mostly because the sight of those long legs in those socks was driving him insane. He rocked his hips then, deep short thrusts and watched how with every thrust the legs bobbed up and down and it just made him want to go faster, go deeper. 

“Kotetsu,” Bunny whimpered needing more and not knowing how to ask for it. He took hold of his cock and stroked it faster than what Kotetsu was thrusting and sighed relieved when he picked up the pace.

Kotetsu’s mind was a blur and he rubbed his face against the thick cotton of the socks. Those little whimpering noises Bunny was making, the shirt that rode up making him look incredibly debauched, the hard cock bobbing with every thrust. He watched eagerly how Bunny curled his toes and then he leaned back pressing the legs even further down, delighted that Bunny was flexible enough for it.

He shifted the angle of his thrusts slightly and watched how Bunny arched his back, and moved his hips in frantic thrusts, felt him grow tighter and tighter and Kotetsu moved deeper, harder, his hands a bruising grip on the pale thighs.

“Oh-Ko-“ Bunny’s voice ended in a sort of strangled scream as he spilled over his belly, splattering his shirt with thick strands of come. Kotetsu growled and bend over slightly slamming his hips against Bunny’s who kept clamping down on him, frantically reaching for his own release. He was so hot, so achingly hard, so wildly aroused. He opened his eyes to take in the sight in front of him. He was so close, so close, and then Bunny lifted his come covered hand and made a show out of sucking his soaked, sticky fingers, watching him through half-closed, mischievous eyes, and he was suddenly there. He came abruptly, his hips moving in erratic thrusts now, spilling himself deep within his lover. He releases his death grip on Bunny placed his hands on the bed, hoping to catch his breath soon.

Barnaby ran his sock-covered leg up and down Kotetsu lower back enjoying his afterglow but mostly, loving how out of breath Kotetsu was still. Circling him with his legs he nudged him closer to press sated, lazy kisses on his mouth when Kotetsu moved to lie next to him instead of on top, he let himself be cuddled.

“I guess,” Bunny started after a moment, trailing idle pattern on Kotetsu’s skin, “some memories aren’t that bad.”

Kotetsu let out a slightly wheezy laughter. “Which ones, the old or the new ones?” He asked and Bunny smiled.

“Both.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last of the series! I'm sure I intended to at the very least write one more story of them sort of moving in together and getting settled and like, family and stuff, but I never got around to write it and well, I don't know if I will now? Maybe after season 2 and the fandom gets more lively again I might. Who knows! 
> 
> Thanks for everyone who stuck around and read the whole thing. And special thanks to those who still remembered these stories! Gosh, it's been wonderful to hear that there are people out there who still remember! 
> 
> I will continue working on [Within a Forest Dark](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23475076) which will be updated weekly on Mondays.


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